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Even coal (clean or not) will not save the US way of life
Jerome a Paris, Daily Kos
This is not about how horribly polluting coal is. It’s not about how dangerous coal mining is. It’s not about how much it contributes to carbon emissions and thus to global warming.
No, this is to fight the meme that coal is plentiful.
(7 Oct 2006)
Alternate version in European Tribune.
Kremlin seeks more coal use in Russia amid gas shortage: report
Platts
The Kremlin has started developing a new energy strategy to increase coal usage by domestic consumers amid a gas shortage on local Russian markets, Russia’s Kommersant daily said Tuesday.
To compensate for the gas shortage, which currently reaches up to 30% of total Russian demand, Russian authorities plan to increase supplies of coal and fuel oil to domestic electricity utilities, the newspaper said, citing an unnamed source at the Kremlin.
The move will allow Gazprom to secure its export obligations but will raise electricity prices within the country, the newspaper said.
(19 Sept 2006)
Massive coal mine blaze still burning
AAP/The Age
Hundreds of firefighters continue to battle a massive coal mine blaze in Victoria’s Latrobe Valley as authorities maintain a high bushfire alert across the state.
The fire, at International Power’s open cut brown coal mine at Hazelwood, near Morwell, has stretched to more than two km along the coalface and is expected to continue burning for several days, Country Fire Authority (CFA) spokeswoman Adele Buhagiar said.
“We’ve got a lot of resources and personnel right now trying to get a hold on the fire but it will still be burning well into next week because it is so big,” she said, adding 200 CFA firefighters and International Power workers had been tasked to the fire, aided by two water-bombing aircraft. ..
The mine feeds the Hazelwood Power Station, one of Victoria’s largest power generators, which produces up to 25 per cent of Victoria’s power.
Environment Victoria said the fire is reason enough to close down Hazelwood, adding it wasn’t the first time the pit had caught alight.
“Hazelwood already produces more global warming pollution per unit of electricity than any power station in the developed world. Fires in their coal pit just add to their record levels of pollution,” Environment Victoria’s executive director Marcus Godinho said. ..
(13 Oct 2006)
This is far from the first fire even at that coal mine, but its a big flare up. Not coincidentally we had over 36C yesterday, not bad for spring. -LJ
Output drop hurts UK Coal
Rebecca Bream, Financial Times
Mining group UK Coal warned on Friday it would fall into a full-year loss because of a drop in production.
The group, the largest coal miner in the UK, said it output would be between 3.9m and 4.1m tonnes in the second half of the year, missing its targets.
In September, UK Coal said production would fall to about 4.5m tonnes because of the disruption caused by two fatal mining accidents and geological problems. ..
The group made a first-half pre-tax profit of £7m year after cutting mining costs and increasing sales. Production was 5.5m tonnes, of which 5.3m tonnes came from its seven underground mines. One of these, Rossington, was closed in April and another, Harworth, has been mothballed while the group reviews whether to open a new seam. ..
There has been widespread speculation the group’s property bank could make it attractive to a property group or private equity firm seeking. ..
(13 Oct 2006)
